


Belonging

by Etienne_Lennon



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-24
Updated: 2013-02-24
Packaged: 2017-12-03 11:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/697853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etienne_Lennon/pseuds/Etienne_Lennon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean has left for a mission and leaves Scott in a really bad mood. The fearless leader takes it out on the team until Remy and Logan get together to plan how to stop him. Their plan however turns out to have a whole lot of unpredicted side effects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Belonging

**Author's Note:**

> Places and characters not mine.  
> I really like Scotty - but for this one I needed to make him the bad guy. Will make up for it some other time :-)

It was a hot day and a long one at that.  
Cyclops had put them to an extra training session on the grounds for 5 hours straight. The man was quite the sadistic prick coming to think about it. 

For Remy it was kinda like being back home in Louisiana, training with the thief's guild. Heat, sweat, commands cried out all over the place – the only thing missing were the mosquitoes really. 

So he didn't mind the exhaustion, the strain in his muscles or the constant insults. But he did care about the younger kids crying silently with no time to even catch their breaths. He had hated all that „if it doesn't break you it makes you stronger“ kind of bullshit back home and he hated it no less at the Xavier institute for the gifted.

When he saw Jubilee being almost shot in the face by a giant sentinel before he could destroy the thing with a well handed out deck of cards that was it for him.

„Ey, Cyclops that's enough, non? The petits are exhausted!“ 

The instant reply from their fearless leader came over the intercom and was electrically distorted. 

„Gambit, concentrate.“ And Remy had to jump like crazy to get out of the way of the next shot. He thought he had avoided the thing rather gracefully, but then felt himself crash into another body.

„Careful, Gumbo. You might break a nail.“

Falling against the Wolverine was kind of like falling against a brick wall and for a second there, Remy felt disoriented before he could gather his wits.

„Can't everyone have unbreakable nails like you, homme.“ The Wolverine grinned and used his claws to slice down another robot before it could fire at Shadowcat who had just phased out of an actual brick wall. 

„Cyke! Either you stop the program or you get your fucking boy-scout ass down here and help us out!“

„Watch you mouth, Wolverine!“ Cyclops announced before firing another shot at them. Remy sighed. He had run out of cards, so he extended his Bo staff and joined Wolverine in the close distance fighting. Their long day had just gotten longer.

*****

When he hit the showers, he felt the exhaustion in every fiber of his body. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the heat. It was a good feeling. Still, in his view, the strain they had put on the kids that day had simply been to much. Recently, Cyclops had become such a - 

„Fucking fanatic!“ Remy opened his eyes and saw the Wolverine standing on the opposite side of the communal shower. Remy opened his pony tail and let his hair rinse in the water. He closed his eyes again and let the sensation wash over him. He had not noticed the feral coming in, but then, Wolverine usually moved soundlessly. Now he heard the water being turned on. He grinned.

„Scotty sure seems to be a tad strained, non?“ 

„A tad?“ The other man's voice sounded like rolling thunder „It's probably 'cause of Jean, non?“ This time, the reply he got was an actual growl and Remy sighed opening his eyes. Apparently, the almighty Wolverine still wasn't over his crush on a certain Jean Grey. A pity really, given that she was deeply committed to Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, leader of the X-Men and recently turned sadist par excellence. Jean had left a couple of weeks ago on a longer mission overseas, taking with her most of the senior X-Men, including Rogue, Remy's own on and off flirt. It left Gambit and Wolverine basically alone to deal with Cyclops' moods and protect the others as well as possible. 

„you know, l'absence d'amour does crazy things to a man's head.“

„Are you saying Cyclops is torturing the rest of us because he's not getting any?“

„Precisely.“ 

It was the first time in their conversation that Wolverine actually looked him straight in the face and suddenly, Remy grew acutely aware of the fact that he was standing naked in the shower. 

„Maybe something should be done about that.“ Wolverine said, still staring into Remy's eyes. 

„Like what?“ 

But Wolverine was already turning off the shower and leaving.

*****

That evening, Remy took his usual place on the front porch with a glass of bourbon and a pack of cigarettes. 

It was his way of relaxing and he had taken to it ever since first arriving at the mansion a few years ago. He had never planned on staying. This had been supposed to be just a stage, an interval in the travels of Remy LeBeau. He wasn't sure what had made him stay. But on hot summer nights like this one, he couldn't help but miss the sounds, smells and tastes of Louisiana, his home to which he could never return since the guild banned him for life. 

The sound of a bottle being put down on the table pulled Remy out of that place and time.  
„Mind if I join you?“ Once again he had not heard the Wolverine approach. A good thing the man was on his side of the fighting. Most of the times anyway. 

He took a long drag from his cigarette and carelessly flicked his lighter over to the older man. When Wolverine was out of uniform, was Mr Logan for some of the kids, he would sometimes be a part on the ritual on the porch. And when he did, he somehow never had a lighter for his cigars.

„Thanks, Gumbo.“ The sound of his lighter, the smell of cigar and a slight swishing sound. Remy caught the lighter in midair without looking at Wolverine. He remained silent. He didn't exactly mind company, he just had no real use for it. 

„You know Cajun, I have been thinking about it. Doesn't seem fair that Cyke gets to bust our balls just because his are turning blue. After all, it's not like he's the only one on a dry spell.“ Wolverine sounded oddly contemplative, which was slightly out of character for the man. 

„Speak for yourself, old man. I for one cannot complain about missing attention from the femmes.“ Actually it had been some time since Remy had last seen any action outside the battlefield. But he did have a reputation to uphold after all.  
„Spare me the details. But to me, days like today just prove that he is in no sound sate to lead us.“

„What are you suggesting? A rebellion? As amusing as that sounds, it might be even more exhausting than his training sessions.“ 

Wolverine was drinking beer from the bottle. When he put it down, there was a hint of foam on his lip, which he licked away carelessly. „I'm not planing a rebellion“. He said. „I had something far more fun in mind – but it requires a very specific set of skills that I don't possess.“ The ice cubes in Remy's glass made a slight clicking noise as he put it down and poured more bourbon into it. „I'm intrigued.“ Remy said and lit another cigarette.

 

*****

2 more bourbons and plenty more cigarettes later. Remy found himself back in the mansion, sneaking through the hallway and wondering whether this was in fact a good idea. But somehow, Wolverine had made it all sound so incredibly convincing in that calm, husky voice of this.

Standing in from of Cyclops' door, he hesitated. He had done more dangerous things than this for sure, but as part of his training by the guild, he had learned to carefully assess the price/cost balance of each job he would be about to accept. And somehow for this job he had not conclusively negotiated what he would gain for the risk he was taking. 

But then again, a challenge was a challenge. 

With his mutant power of charging inanimate objects with kinetic energy leading to their explosion, it had always been easy for him to pick locks. But in this case it was important to not leave any trace, so he had to rely on good old craftsmanship, which took longer but resulted in Cyclops' door gliding open quite satisfyingly without leaving any traces of intrusion. 

They had thought about letting Wolverine do the next part of the job, given that he could move noiselessly and had better orientation in the dark, but then again, the man had hardly any patience when it came to searching a place. So Remy's job it was.

He slipped through the small opening of the door quietly, while night vision goggles helped him check out the place quickly. Wardrobe, bed, nightstand. The whole place looked remarkably like his own, which made orientation much easier. But the real challenge of breaking and entering was finding what you wanted as quickly as possible.

He had been talking about Cyclops a lot with Wolverine to find out his patterns and try to discern just where fearless would hide that thing he was looking for. Not the nightstand. Cyclops was to careful for going with the obvious choice. 

In fact – an idea hit him. He would have to move fast but he could most certainly do it.

There was a door on the far side of the wall and if his assumptions were right, it would lead just to the bathroom. He moved very quietly. He had no doubt Wolverine would still have been able to hear him, but lucky for him, no matter how good a leader Scott might be, supernatural hearing skills were not part of his talents. 

Remy made it to the bathroom safe and sound, gently opened the door and stepped inside. If his estimation of Cyclops was right then the thing he was looking for would be --

he gently knocked against the tiles underneath the sink. When he heard a very quiet hollow sound, he used just the tiniest fraction of his powers to loosen the tile and grabbed into the space behind it.  
„Voilá“. He muttered to himself, got out his price and put the tile back on the spot. 

He left as quietly as he had come.

Seeing the Wolverine in the hallway, he just gave the briefest of nods and headed back to his own bedroom. 

He secured his price, undressed and lay back on the bed, his heart racing. Who would have thought that life as an X-Man would be this exciting.

*****

When he came to the kitchen the next morning, he was not surprised to see Wolverine already having his breakfast there. He was however surprised about the steaming pot of coffee standing ready on his usual place at the breakfast table. 

„For me, mon ami?“ Wolverine smiled. Like Remy himself, he wasn't in uniform yet but in jeans and a white shirt that sat tight over hard muscles. Remy tried the coffee and found it to be just the way he liked, black with a little sugar. „Thanks“. He said quietly. 

„You're welcome, Gumbo. So, what d'you reckon, will the training today be as bad as yesterday?“ 

„Who knows. But Scott, responsible team leader that he is, will surely know best what to do.“ And he smiled into his coffee. 

Before leaving the room, Wolverine put a hand on his shoulder. 

Now that was just weird.

Remy finished his coffee and was about to leave as well, when the intercom came alive with a crack. 

„Attention, all X-Men, assemble in the command room. Now.“ 

Someone sounded pissed-off and Remy could imagine why all to well.

„Merde.“ He told his coffee and headed to the command room.

Wolverine was already sitting at the table, so was Beast, the only other full-fledged X-Man who had stayed back in the mansion.

„Gambit, good you found the time to join us.“

The hostility in Cyclops' voice was barely hidden and Remy was bracing himself for a big wave of aggression to come his way. He usually had a good grasp of his empathy and would not be overwhelmed by the emotions he could pick up through his mutant powers. But this focused wave of pissed-offness just lingering in the air made him doubt the intensity of his mental shields. 

He decided to fight back by turning on his charm a notch. Just enough to suggest to Cyclops the idea that he might be overreacting. „I'm sorry, mon captain, I came her as fast as I could.“

„Just sit down.“ 

So this seemed to be going well. 

„We have a situation.“ They all looked at Cyclops expectantly, Wolverine with his arms crossed over his chest, Beast with his usual expression of kindness and curiosity and Remy himself with what he was pretty sure was an innocent expression of vague interest.

„Somebody took it.“

„Took what, Cyke?“ Wolverine growled. 

At this, Cyclops hesitated a moment, before he let out: „My controller.“ At that, Beast let out a hissing breath, while Wolverine let out one of his claws and Remy let out another wave of charm before he said „Mon die, Cyclops, that is serious business.“ 

„You don't say, Cajun.“ Wolverine growled at him. „Gentleman, let's all calm down. The situation is grave but it's no time to snap at one another“. Beast was calm and composed as usual, but Cyclops was just getting up and started pacing around the room like a trapped animal.

„Someone stole my controller to the danger room, now I have no more access to the training programs, whereas someone else does.“

„And now the thing that we have to find out is whether it was one of our numerous enemies or an undisciplined disciple.“ It was Beast who brought the thing down to the point, just as Remy had expected he would.

Now this was the crucial moment. Remy was slightly tempted to look at Wolverine but didn't. He was a professional after all. He let out another line of charm while saying „It might have been one of the students, that's a good point, Hank. But somehow I fear that would be too easy, we're usually not that lucky”. 

Remy was glad the professor wasn't around. The old man would always pick up on him using his more subtle power. As would Jean. Scott however seemed to be game. „Gambit is right. We can't risk it. Beast and I stay here, watch the mansion and talk to the kids to find out what's going on. Wolverine and Gambit, you try and find traces. I need that controller back by tonight or we will have to start reprogramming the danger room for safety purposes. That would take 3 days at least.“

„Imagine that.“ Wolverine said and got up. „Come on then, Gumbo, the sooner we get going, the sooner we can get back to training.

*****

Wolverine had been buying him drinks all night. So there was a perk about being a lawless scoundrel. Just now Wolverine came over with two beers and something akin to a grin on his face-

„So, you reckon the brotherhood has hidden the controller somewhere around the pool table?“ Remy smiled at him. It was, he realized, one of his genuine smiles. 

„That's a very real possibility, mon ami. We had better check it out.“ The gang of heavily set pseudo rockers at the pool table left quickly after the Canadian had kindly inquired. One of them looked back a them before leaving and Remy picked up some aggression, probably when he saw Remy's mutant eyes. That was regrettable but Remy had stopped caring about other people's thoughts about him a long time ago.

Wolverine was good at playing pool. Obviously he was. So far, Remy had not seen Wolverine do anything that he was not good at. But still. Remy wasn't called „Gambit“ for nothing and the only game he was better at than pool was poker. So he was perfectly entitled to a smug little smile when he finally sank the 8 ball.  
The smile disappeared immediately though as soon as he remembered the last time Wolverine had lost against him. They still hadn't bought a new basketball. „Good game.“ Was all Wolverine said.  
Now that was odd again. 

„Are you up for another game?“ Remy asked cautiously. „Nah, that's alright.“ We should probably head back and tell Cyke the bad news.“ Wolverine chucked the rest of his beer and put the bottle down right next to Remy's. 

They went outside to get on their motorcycles and drive home. But just one look told Remy there was something wrong. He moved towards his bike as in a trance. But he stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. „ Don't look, Cajun. They got her good.“ Remy turned and almost felt like crying. His bike. His beautiful, beloved Benelli motorcycle. They has slashed her tires and left her there to bleed. It wasn't pretty.

Wolverine's hand was still on his shoulder. „We should go. You can share a ride with me and we pick her up tomorrow with the jeep“. 

That sounded like a good plan – but not like the worthy end to a good day.

„Or we hunt down the bastards who did this and kick their asses.“ 

Wolverine gave one of his predator grins.

„That's a better plan.“

*****

It didn't really take Wolverine's advanced sense of smell to figure out who was behind the whole thing. Apparently, the guys at the pool table had taken a dislike to Remy's red and black eyes and taken it out on his beautiful machine although how they had known it was his he couldn't know. Either someone had told them or they had just aimed at the most extravagant vehicle. It didn't really matter.

The feral's nose sure was helpful to find the gang. Surprisingly enough, they hadn't gone far, actually just to another bar around the corner, where they were playing pool and drinking.

„Stinking mutants, always getting in the way of normal people“. Their leader was just saying. Remy looked at Wolverine and smiled a small smile. This was just the thing to wrap up a nice Thursday evening. 

„Excuse me, Messieurs, this will only take a very brief moment of all our time“. Next to him, he heard the familiar sound of six adamantium claws being extended. 

Remy go out his bo staff. He didn't want to cause too much damage with his explosives. This should be over pretty soon anyway. When the leader of the gang got out a knife and made to attack him, Remy kicked the staff into the guy's stomach, which left him breathlessly on the ground. „That's for my baby.“ Remy said, while the rest of the guys dispersed quite quickly. „I wish I could imagine that this was because of my threatening performance but I guess your claws did he trick, mon ami.“. A low growl from Wolverine's throat was all it took to get the leader to crawl away from them as well. „And I didn't even get to do any slicing“ the feral mutant said good-naturedly. Remy laughed. He felt a wave of affection wash over him as he stood next to the other man. It was almost like they were friends.

Even if they had scared the guys who had done it off real good, his bike was still useless for the moment, so Remy had to take up on the offer and get on the bike behind Wolverine. He didn't like sitting behind another driver on a motorcycle, but any other solution would have been more inconvenient, so he slipped his arms around Wolverine's surprisingly slim waist and waited for the other man to start the engine. Wolverine drove fast. Of course he did. Remy guessed that being practically indestructible would make you do anything hard and fast as a rule. Since he himself could hold his own pretty well but had no healing factor to speak of, he held on tighter to his teammate and noticed for the first time the nice and comforting smell of Wolverine's leather jacket. 

He hadn't felt like this in forever, alive and relaxed a the same time. It was as if he could do anything and succeed with this man at his side. How odd.

When they got back to the mansion, it had somehow become 3 am. Remy waited while Wolverine secured his vintage motorcycle and they headed to the mansion together. Apparently there was no one awake anymore to welcome them, so they did the usual ordeal of retinal scan, finger prints and security codes before finally being allowed into the house. They parted on their floor, Wolverine extending his hand, which seemed to Remy to be oddly formal but he shook it nonetheless. When he touched the other's hand and looked into those very clear, blue eyes, he could have sworn he saw something like surprise in them and for a second, Remy was very tempted to use his empathy to get a reading of the Wolverine at this odd hour in the night, in this Victorian hallway, with a thief's hand in his. But then the moment ended with Wolverine growling a short „night, Gumbo.“ To which Remy replied, in a tone so low that an ordinary person would not have been able to understand him „bonne nuit, Logan.“

*****

„Gambit, into the control room, now!“ He woke with a start at Cyclops' voice through the intercom. Now today promised to become a very cheery day, given that it was just half past six and fearless was already in a bad mood. He decided it would probably do to put on his uniform, which took longer than just putting on jeans and a T-shirt but would suggest his being ready for all kinds of crazy missions. 

When he got into the control room, he saw that Cyclops was in full-on fighting gear himself. Wolverine though was dressed as a civilian (in plait) and drank coffee from his very private „kiss me, I'm Canadian“ mug that Jubilee had given him to his last birthday.

„Ok, now that you're both here, I want my report. What did you do last night?“

„We trashed the bad guys and drove home safely.“ Wolverine sounded extremely calm, which was more than Remy could say of himself. After all, Scotty angry was not a good thing to be around. 

„And. Where. is. my. Controller?“ Cyclops said with a forced calm that threatened to burst through Remy's shields. 

„Sorry bub, didn't find it.“ 

Now the atmosphere started to get really intense. There seemed to be a real wave of anger radiating from their leader. 

„Well, if you didn't find it with the brotherhood then the most likely next option is that it was one of the kids. Hank, rally them together. I will have some serious words with them.“  
It was then that Remy decided to come clean. He whole idea had been to give the kids a break, if only for a day. More torture would just be against the purpose. 

He could feel Wolverine next to him move. But this one was on him.

„It was me, Cyclops. I stole it. I wanted the kids to get some rest and you wouldn't react to reason without Jean by your side.“

He probably shouldn't have said that last thing judging from the wave of dislike that radiated from Cyclops. It was actually giving him a headache. 

„That.is.the.most.outragous.thing.that.anyone.has.ever.done.around.here. GAMBIT.YOU'RE.UNDER.HOUSARREST:FOR:THIS.UNTIL.THE.PROFESSOR.COMES.BACK. AND.THEN.I'LL.TELL.HIM.YOU.DON'T.BELONG.WITH.THE.X-MEN”.

He heard Wolverine push back his chair. And he heard Beast start a sentence with „Cyclops, I really think you should....“ but he was already turning his back on them and heading to his room.

*****

Well, it had been only in interval after all. And all good things had to end eventually anyway. 

He scanned his room quickly. There wasn't much he would need. He usually traveled lightly and he was already in his uniform. This shouldn't take long. 

But in the end, it took him too long Remy had just packed a rucksack with his belongings when his door opened and Wolverine came inside. „Listen, Gumbo, I don't know what you think you're doing, but you're not leaving like this. I just told Slim it was all my fault and the Professor will just laugh about the whole thing, this was just a prank after all.“ Remy felt very much like a teenager, but he just about had it. „Non, ok? I don't care. They don't want me, it's fine. I'll leave. I'm just tired of all this. No one has ever trusted me around here anyway and now they have a all the more reason to mistrust me and I will never hear the end of it.“ 

Wolverine growled and Remy knew he had said too much. He didn't even know why he bothered to explain all this to the other man in the first place. He just wanted to get this over with.

„Listen, Logan, it's not your fault. I couldn't stand him either and it was high time someone got him down from his high horse. So now I'm leaving, that was high time as well.“

At these words, the Wolverine was actually crouching. And before Remy could stop it, the other man's emotions hit him like a gun shot. Anger. Frustration. Regret and ....

„I don't care, what they think. I don't care what you think you have to do. I want you to stay, Remy.“

...Longing.

In that moment, Remy truly wished he could stay. 

He opened the window instead. Wolverine made to move after him, but this once, Gambit was quicker. He pulled out something from his pocket, tossed it at the other man with the precision he was known for-

and left.

FIN


End file.
